Aaron Broussard asks federal judge to toss most of the corruption charges against him

Former Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard has asked a federal judge to dismiss 26 of the 27 counts against him as well as part of another count. The motion was filed Wednesday by Broussard's attorney, Robert Jenkins.

Broussard and former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson are charged with conspiring to bribe, steal and commit wire fraud. Last week, Wilkinson's attorneys, Richard Westling and Ralph Whalen Jr., filed a similar motion to have all but one of the 22 counts against him dismissed.

Broussard's motion points out that Broussard was not parish president when Karen Parker was hired to work as a paralegal for the parish and therefore didn't have the authority to appoint her. The government's case is built partly around the allegation that the former parish president used his political power to enhance the compensation of Parker, his ex-wife.

Broussard was parish council chairman and had been elected parish president on Oct. 4, 2003, but would not take office until 2004. Parish President Tim Coulon was still in office, and he appointed Parker to her job on Oct. 28, 2003, Broussard's motion says.

Parker was appointed to a $48,000-a-year job in the parish attorney's office as a paralegal supervisor in 2003 about six months before she and Broussard married. She was not qualified for the job, and her pay was more than $3,000 higher than the maximum allowed in parish law for the position, according to the indictment.

Neither Broussard nor Wilkinson had any power under the parish charter to hire her to that position, Broussard's motion says. Only Coulon had the authority to hire Parker and set her salary.

"Therefore, the indictment fails on its face to show how Broussard could have used the charter power in any way that could have resulted in defrauding the citizens of Jefferson Parish," the motion says.

Parker and Tim Whitmer, Broussard's chief administrative officer, have pleaded guilty to covering up felonies in connection with the case. Broussard and Wilkinson have pleaded not guilty; their trial is scheduled for Oct. 1.

Broussard's motion says that even if all of the allegations in the indictment are true, there is nothing that substantiates the charge that Broussard "personally enriched himself and financially benefited others by means of false pretenses, promises and representations, thereby defrauding Jefferson Parish and its citizens."

If Wilkinson succeeds in persuading Judge Hayden Head Jr. to throw out most of the indictment against him, he would face a single charge, conspiracy to commit bribery, because he allegedly knew Broussard was accepting payoffs from Kenner businessman Bill Mack in exchange for help in securing government contracts.

Similarly, Broussard is seeking the dismissal of 26 of the counts and part of another.

Mack has also pleaded guilty.

In exchange for taking care of Parker, and for helping get a relative admitted to a private school where Wilkinson served on the board of directors, Broussard raised Wilkinson's pay seven times, from $100,000 in 2004 to $184,000 in 2010, the indictment alleges.

About two months before her wedding, Parker transferred to a job issuing identification cards for parish employees, but she retained her salary. The maximum annual pay for the ID card job: less than $43,000. From 2004 through 2010, she received four pay raises, to $63,898. By the time Broussard's successor fired her in 2010, she had drawn $323,308 in pay, according to the indictment.